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Issue No. 35                       October 14 - 20,  2001                          Quezon City, Philippines

Labor's Wage Hike Struggle Back in Congress

Official records show that while prices of fuel and basic commodities are consistently on the rise, the daily wage of workers is not catching up fast enough. This has been the case especially so since government passed on the determination of wage increase to the regional wage boards and to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) system 12 years ago. The labor struggle for a decent wage hike has reached Congress and there, another battle pits pro-labor congressmen against their pro-business colleagues.

BY DANILO ARAÑA ARAO
Bulatlat.com

While the price of fuel and basic commodities has risen several-fold over the past years, the daily wage of workers has only slightly increased and only after much struggle. The daily pay has in fact been a perennial headache of the country’s millions of workers – a fact which has sharply widened the division between labor on one hand and business and government, on the other.

Official records show the roots of the workers’ restlessness: Since the enactment of the Wage Rationalization of Act of 1989 (Republic Act No. 6727), both the government and employers have reduced the granting of wage increases at the regional level, to be determined by the various Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs). Further policy pronouncements show the government’s apparent bias for wage hikes through collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) per company. Such approach vis-a-vis the wage demand has resulted in minuscule increases since 1989, prompting labor to wonder if this indeed is what is meant by “wage rationalization.”

Immediately after the enactment of RA 6727 in 1989, daily wage increased by P35.50 on the average (i.e., from P53.50 to P89.00). However, from 1990 to August 2001, the RTWPBs have granted wage hikes by only P10.49 on the average. Such increases proved to be minuscule as prices of commodities substantially negated whatever wage increases were made. The situation proved to be worst in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which only had four wage increases since its establishment in 1991.

With the demand for daily wage increases going through an uphill battle by labor compounded by employers’ grudging and slow response to such demand, the income of workers – for that matter, that of the average family – could not cope with the rise in the cost of living.

Cost of living

Bulatlat.com computations show, for instance, that as of September 2001, the cost of living for a family of six amounts to P15,457.08 in Metro Manila. In non-agricultural areas outside Metro Manila, it is pegged at P12,381.21 monthly.

On a monthly basis, however, a minimum wage earner’s gross pay is able to meet only 36% and 32% of cost of living requirement in Metro Manila and areas outside of Metro Manila, respectively. (See Table below)

With the plunge in the workers’ real wage and the added burden of fuel price increases, several labor organizations have called for the scrapping of the wage rationalization law particularly the provision creating the RTWPBs. More and more, while labor groups have called for immediate across-the-board wage increase at the core of their battle cry has been the abolition of the RTWPBs which they consider as “anti-labor” and the culprit behind their current plight.

House bills

And now, before Congress are at least two bills calling for just that. One of these, House Bill (HB) No. 2899 authored by Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales (Akbayan), seeks to pass on the National Wage and Productivity Commission (NWPC) the determination of fair and equitable wages. While it, in effect, abolishes the RTWPBs, wage determination will be done on a per industry basis.

To labor militants particularly the Kilusang Mayo Uno, however, Rosales’ bill is not an improvement in the current region-based determination of wages. KMU-affiliated workers are demanding for a legislated wage hike that is both across-the-board and nationwide, as may be gleaned from HB No. 2605 filed by Bayan Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo, Crispin Beltran (who is also KMU chairman) and Liza Maza.

The sponsorship of the bills by legislators associated with militant labor has prompted labor’s arch-enemy, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), to mount a counter-lobby before the House. In the October 10 hearing of the House Committee on Labor on Employment, an ECOP representative argued that businesses have the right to a “reasonable return on investment.” He was arguing his opposition to various bills on living wage and the granting of a P125 across-the-board increase in the salaries of workers nationwide.

Afghan war

ECOP’s statement was made a day after various foreign chambers of commerce in the country called for a deferment of any wage hike by at least three months. They said that the economic uncertainty brought about by the US attacks on Afghanistan is severely affecting their operations.

Labor leaders saw this as yet another ploy to derail the growing clamor for a wage hike which has united both militant, moderate and conservative labor groups albeit with varying estimates of wage increase. They argue that business can say it has the right to maintain profit but at the same time workers too have the right to survive amidst harsh conditions. They further stress that workers are always at the receiving end of the chronic crisis besetting the economy since. A daily wage hike will somewhat provide some breathing space in their daily life.

Labor’s denunciation has been more scathing on government whose sympathy, in the workers’ experience, has tilted more on the business sector.

Workers believe that employers and government can come up with five or 10 excuses not to grant a substantial wage increase. But in their view, there are around 78 million reasons why a legislated wage hike should be granted now. Bulatlat.com

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